Google Play Music

Google Play Music is a multi-use app that both comes as a pre-installed music app on all Google-certified Android devices but can also be installed and updated from the Play Store on older devices. It works with music files that have been loaded on your phone manually, with streaming from your own collection uploaded to Google Play Music, with purchased music from the Play Store or even through a paid monthly subscription service to access even more music.

All Access is Google's subscription music service that lives within Google Play Music, giving users access to millions of songs for a flat monthly fee of $10. Those who subscribe to Google Play Music All Access have the ability to stream, download, create playlists and share tracks, regardless of whether they actually own them or are simply accessing them with their monthly subscription. All Access can be used across 10 devices tied to a single account, but playback is limited to one device at a time.

Google Play Music has evolved pretty dramatically since its first unveiling in mid-2011 when it came as an invite-only service, but is well-regarded as being a great all-in-one app choice for music lovers of all kinds.

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All Google Play Music

Earlier in the still-ongoing Google I/O keynote, Google announced Google Play Music All Access, a new subscription service aimed at providing any music you want for a monthly fee of $9.99 ($7.99 if you try the free trial before June 30th). The service will be available on both mobile devices and...

Google launches subscription music service, $9.99 per month, 30-day free trial
We're live in San Francisco for the Google I/O keynote presentation, where the search giant unveiled its new music subscription service, Google Play Music All Access. All Access includes such features as Listen Now,...

According to sources of the Financial Times, and corroborated by The Verge's own sources, Google has been talking to music labels about licensing deals for a subscription music service to launch in the third quarter. Play Music (then Google Music) has only been around since May of 2011, and only...

Google Play Music has just received a notable update to add a few features that have been bugging users for some time now. Right off the top you'll spot a proper reverse button on the music widget, letting you go backwards in albums or playlists without entering the app. Instant mixes can now...

With the roll out of Google Music in Europe we saw Google include the scan and match feature that offers up a quick scanning of your library and then instantly makes the tracks available in the cloud much like how iTunes Match works. At the time, Google made no efforts to divulge when that feature...

Sound Search (affectionately known as Google Ear to the Android faithful) has landed in Google Play, ready for downloading on devices running 4.0 or higher. In case you're unaware of exactly what this is, it's pretty much like Shazam -- let it listen to a song that is playing, and it will identify...

There's been a whole lot of talk about Google Music in the recent weeks, as Google has been furiously rolling out features to new countries and signing big content deals to back them up. Play Music went live in several European countries, it's music "matching" service just came to Europe, gapless...

Following Monday's Google Play Music launch in Europe, Google's music matching service has been enabled for European users. Similar to iTunes Match, the new service works through the existing Google Music Manager app, crunching your music collection and matching it to stuff already on Google's...

Google Play Music services are now live in some European countries. Warner Music Group artists now available worldwide.
Today isn't just Nexus Eve, at least, not in Europe anyway. Today also sees the long awaited arrival of Google Play Music on these shores! Customers in the UK, France, Germany...

It's almost as if someone at Google was listening to the podcast... After an interesting question about gapless playback in Google Music on our 115th show, Google Music has been updated to support it. This means that during playback of an album, there will be a seamless transition between the...

Warner Music Group artists also coming to Play Music
Google has announced that its Google Play Music service will be coming to European shores on Nov. 13, which also happens to be the day Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 arrive internationally. Initially, users in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain...

During the last 24 hours Google has pushed out a series of updates to their Android applications. While some are simply for bug fixes, some -- as is becoming a little too frequent -- have no sign of a "whats new" changelog. Frustrating.
We'll hit the ones we do know about first. Up on the bug fix...

The Google Play Music app has received an update, which brings a few welcome and overdue features. One new feature is the support for expanded notifications for Jelly Bean devices. One of our favorite features of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) is the richer and more interactive notifications, so it's...

Heads up if you're thinking about grabbing one of Sony's new Google TV set-top boxes -- unfortunately Google Play Music is not compatible with the device(s). The UPS man dropped one off here earlier, and I've been setting things up to replace my aging Logitech Revue, and just hit this, which is a...

Google has long since been known as a company that enjoys placing some not quite complete features on a few of their products out there to mix things up. Those items usually fall under a beta or "labs" moniker and that's exactly what they've done with Google Play Music now. While most of use are...

The folks at doubleTwist have updated their Android app to version 1.7.3, and it brings a pretty nice change log along with. In addition to playing your music collection from the device and syncing to your Windows or Mac computer, you can now play music you have downloaded and pinned from Google...

Not a huge update, we suppose, but the Google Play branding has made its way into a new version of what previous was Google Music Manager. Guess now it's Google Play Music Manager? Snag the latest version at the link below.
Download: Google Play Music Manager; Thanks, Chris!

The ink is hardly dry on the new Google Play signage, and newly rebranded Google Play apps are already starting to drop into the Android Market Google Play Store Android apps section. (See, isn't that easier to say?)
Google's Music, Videos and Books apps will update and rebrand themselves to Play...

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Reader comments

Google Play Music

Before the latest update, this app was phenomenal. Since the update, it keeps opening on its own and burning through my battery life. I even tried forcing it closed, but after about ten minutes it turns itself back on in the background. Is there any way this issue can be addressed in short order. I love this app and really do not want to uninstall it.

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